Sampige Spotlight

If you attended the Valentine's Day Party recently, you must have been amazed by the speed with which this domesticated husband neatly folded a very unwieldy saree in the fastest time. The men wondered if he moon-shined as a saree showroom salesman. The women wondered if he was the perfect husband who neatly folded and stacked away his wife's sarees. They can keep wondering but this young man's eclectic tastes include cooking and acting in mimes and his greed for speed comes from being a marathon runner.

This month Sampige introduces you to Shrinivasa and Deepa Adiga.
Shrinivasa comes from a village called Halady of Udupi District. He did
initial schooling at his native village and then did BE at Davangere.
He graduated in 1998-99. After his graduation he joined the IT
industry. His work assignments took him to countries like UK,
Switzerland, Netherlands, France, and Malaysia. Currently he is working
for Wipro Technologies. He came to Raleigh last August when was
assigned to manage a project at GSK.

His hobbies include running, cricket, cooking, and acting in mimes. He
was part of the runners club of Sri Chinmoy Meditation Ashram at Geneva
Switzerland, and member of ‘Runners for Life Club’ in Bangalore. He has
participated in Wipro Marathon and Sunfeast Bangalore Marathon. At
times, to beat the Bangalore traffic he prefers walking 10 KM back home
from MG Road. He enjoys reading when alone.

Incidentally Deepa is also originally from a place called Halladi, around 5KM from my native. She did her post graduation on computers from Madurai Kamaraj University. She lived in Mysore, Delhi and Mumbai. Her husband says with a straight face that she loves experimenting with cooking (caveat eater ?). Deepa also likes interior decoration and playing with kids.

They both love traveling, exploring new places and trying out different food (of course, someone's got to eat all that experimental food).

They have a daughter named Aadya, aged around 20 months old, She loves singing rhymes and enjoys running and dancing with other kids.

In the last issue of Sampige Samachara, we learned about the 14 vowels and 35 consonants. In this issue we'll see how the vowels and consonants mix to form words. But first let's see how this happens in the English language. This will hopefully help us get a better understanding of Kannada.

In English, there are are just 5 vowels. So special rules are needed to sound the short vowel and long vowel. For example, the U makes the short vowel sound in the word cut and makes the long vowel sound in the word cute. The special rule here is that when the word ends in the letter "e", the vowel preceding it makes the long vowel sound.

The most important thing to remember when blending consonants with vowels in Kannada is that the consonant undergoes a slight change in the script. This is unlike English. For example, ಕ್ + ಅ = ಕ. (sound C makes + sound U makes = sound Cu makes, as in Cut).

Here are the vowels again -

This is what happens when the consonant ಕ್ blends with each one of the above vowels

Bag

b + a + g = bag

ಬ್ + ಯ್ + ಅ + ಗ್ = ಬ್ಯಾಗ್

Bake

b + a + k + e = bake

ಬ್ + ಏ + ಕ್ = ಬೇಕ್

Beg

b + e + g = beg

ಬ್ + ಎ + ಗ್ = ಬೆಗ್

Big

b + i + g = big

ಬ್ + ಇ + ಗ್ = ಬಿಗ್

Bite

b + i + t + e = bite

ಬ್ + ಐ + ಟ್ = ಬೈಟ್

Bog

b + o + g = bog

ಬ್ + ಆ + ಗ್ = ಬಾಗ್

Bore

b + o + r + e = bore

ಬ್ + ಓ + ರ್ = ಬೋರ್

Bug

b + u + g = bug

ಬ್ + ಅ + ಗ್ = ಬಗ್

Duke

d + u + k + e = duke

ಡ್ + ಯ್ + ಊ + ಕ್ = ಡ್ಯೂಕ್

Notice how the consonant ಬ್ (makes the sound that B makes) changes script in the 3rd column above (shown in red block).

In the square below, the very first alphabet (ಅ) pops up the other 13 vowels. The rest of the boxes are consonants. Place your mouse on each box to see the transformation that the consonant in that box undergoes when it blends with any of the 13 vowels.

ಲೇಖಕ್ Lines

The Things That Make Me Say Wow

There are so many things that make me say Wow!
Like seeing a building taller than a mountain!
Or seeing a bee as large as my pinky!
Or even a puppy that’s so cute!
Those are the things that make me say wow!

Or even a swing set as large as an apple tree
Or Even a mop spinning like a top!
Those are the things that make me say Wow!

Sometimes the birds make me say Wow!
Or even a cat that’s on top of a hat!
Trees and bushes that blossom with cherries and grapes
All those things make me say Wow!